It’s cold around much of the South Island today with a southerly moving into the North Island this afternoon and tonight.

Let’s get into the forecast for Thursday to start with…

RAIN:
Wet weather moves up NZ today as a cold front heads northwards. Rain and showers will spread up both the western and eastern sides of both main islands – lowest rainfall totals are likely in the upper North Island.

WIND:
Winds turn cold south to south-east over much of the South Island today. Westerlies blow over the North Island before that southerly change, reaching Wellington and Wairarapa this afternoon, and up to Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay this evening.

TEMPERATURES:
The main pulse of cold air heads over the South Island and into the lower North Island today. The South Island may feel wintry with low daytime highs and snow on the mountains.

DAYS AHEAD
Across Friday the next high pressure zone is centred over the central Tasman Sea and that brings a sometimes fresh south-westerly flow across NZ and a few isolated showers. Large dry areas are moving in though. Southland is most exposed to wet weather.

Over the weekend high pressure lingers over the Tasman Sea with showers dotted around the country – but many regions are dry or mostly dry.

Next week kicks off with more westerlies over NZ on Monday, with another front brushing the West Coast and heavy falls in south Westland. Some spill over wet weather in Southland and Otago otherwise the rest of NZ is dry with warmer nor-westers further up the country.

The rest of next week is a mixture of settled weather and a couple cold fronts again in the South Island mostly. There may also be a sub-tropical low, although that’s not locked in yet.

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